Guide separator housing for separating air charged with impurities

ABSTRACT

THERE IS DISCLOSED A GUIDE HOUSING FOR, CONDUCTING OR TRANSPORTING AIR WHICH IS CHARGED OR CONTAMINATED WITH IMPURITIES, SUCH AS DUST OR FIBERS. THE INVENTIVE GUIDE HOUSING POSESSES A HOUSING BODY MEMBER HAVING AN APPROXIMATELY CYLINDRICAL OR SPIRAL-SHAPED CROSS-SECTION. THIS HOUSING BODY MEMBER FURTHER INCORPORATES AN INLET OPENING, A DISCHARGE OPENING AS WELL AS A DISCHARGE CONNECTING PIECE OR STUD WHICH COMMUNICATES WITH THE DISCHARGE OPENING AND IS TANGENTIALLY DIRECTED WITH RESPECT TO THE HOUSING BODY MEMBER. FURTHERMORE, THE HOUSING BODY MEMBER IS EQUIPPED WITH MEANS FOR GENERATING A SPIN OR SPIRAL FLOW WITHIN THE HOUSING BODY MEMBER. ACCORDING TO AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THE INVENTIVE GUIDE HOUSING THE DISCHARGE CONNECTING PIECE OR STUD EXTENDS OPPOSITE TO THE DIRECTION OF DEFLECTION OF THE SPINFLOW GENERATING MEANS IN ORDER TO PRODUCE AN AERODYNAMIC REDUCTION OF THE CROSS-SECTION. MOREOVER, ACCORDING TO AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THE INVENTION, THE EFFECTIVE FLOW CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF THE DISCHARGE CONNECTING PIECE OR STUD IS REDUCED TO A FRACTION OF THE ACTUAL CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA THEREOF, TO THEREBY ENABLE DISCHARGE OF AIR AND FIBER ACCUMULATIONS EVEN LARGER THAN THE EFFECTIVE FLOW CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA.

Nov. 9., 1971 E NAGEL 3,618,303

GUIDE SEPARATOR HOUSIliG FOR SEPARATING AIR CHARGED WITH IMPURITIES Filed Feb. 24. 1969 :5 Sheets-Sheet 1 F|g.1 Q

INVEN'IY )R ATTORNEYS Nov. 9., 1971 E. NAGEL GUIDE SBPARATOR HOUSING FOR SEPARATING AIR CHARGED Filed Feb. 24, 1969 Fig. 3

25 S 12 j 30 ,l 20 10 INVENTOR Nov. 9., 1971 E. NAGEL 3,618,303

GUIDE SEPARATOR HOUSING FOR SEPARATING AIR CHARGED WITH IMPURITIES Filed Feb. 24, 1969 3 Shoots-Shout 3 Fig. 5

INVEN'H )R ATT( mNFYsj United States Patent Office GUIDE SEPARATOR HOUSING FOR SEPARATING AIR CHARGED WITH IMPURITIES Ernst Nagel, Weisslingen, Switzerland, assignor to LUWA AG., Zurich, Switzerland Filed Feb. 24, 1969, Ser. No. 801,719

Claims priority, application Switzerland, Feb. 23, 1968,

2,686/68 Int. Cl. B01d 50/00 [1.8. Cl. 55-337 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE There is disclosed a guide housing for, conducting or transporting air which is charged or contaminated with impurities, such as dust or fibers. The inventive guide housing possesses a housing body member having an approximately cylindrical or spiral-shaped cross-section. This housing body member further incorporates an inlet opening, a discharge opening as well as a discharge connecting piece or stud which communicates with the discharge opening and is tangentially directed with respect to the housing body member. Furthermore, the housing body member is equipped with means for generating a spin or spiral flow within the housing body member. According to an important aspect of the inventive guide housing the discharge connecting piece or stud extends opposite to the direction of deflection of the spinflow generating means in order to produce an aerodynamic reduction of the cross-section. Moreover, according to an important aspect of the invention, the effective flow cross-sectional area of the discharge connecting piece or stud is reduced to a fraction of the actual cross-sectional area thereof, to thereby enable discharge of air and fiber accumulations even larger than the effective flow cross-sectional area.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved guide housing for, transporting air charged or contaminated with impurities, especially dust or fibers.

In the field of pneumatic cleaning of machines, for instance textile machines, as well as the pneumatic transportation of material, for instance fiber material, there oftentimes exists the problem of deflecting an air current or permitting an air current to uniformly flow out of a housing over a certain width. In the case of clean air, this problem can be faultlessly solved aerodynamically. However, in order to do so, there are required relatively large discharge chambers or channel cross-sections. However, in pneumatic cleaning installations, the space required for this purpose generally is not available.

Thus, when encountering limited space conditions in pneumatic cleaning installations there has been proposed the use of air guideor deflection plates or sheets arranged in the air channels. This has produced satisfactory results when Working with purer or cleaner air. However, when using air which is charged with material to be transported these air guide-devices tend to clog within the shortest time.

Attempts have also been made to improve the flow conditions in the channels by introducing so-called false air. However, in order to be sufliciently effective, the quantities of false air used must be so great that the entire process no longer becomes economically feasible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is a primary objective of the present invention to effectively overcome the previously mentioned drawbacks encountered in the prior art solutions.

3,618,303 Patented Nov. 9, 1971 Another, more specific object of the present invention relates to an improved apparatus for, effectively transporting air contaminated with impurities, such as dust 01' fibers, in such a way that there is no tendency for the air flow channels to become clogged.

Yet a further significant object of the present invention relates to an improved apparatus for, conducting away air charged with impurities, such as dust and fibers, in an extremely efficient, economical and reliable manner, with little likelihood of clogging of the apparatus and downtime of the associated pneumatic cleaning installation.

Now, in order to implement these and still further objects of the invention, which will become more readily apparent as the description proceeds, the inventive guide housing for air charged or contaminated With dust or fibers incorporates a housing body member possessing an approximately cylindrical or spiral-shaped cross-section. The housing body member additionally includes an inlet opening, a discharge opening, as well as a discharge stud or connecting piece which communicates with this discharge opening and is tangentially directed with regard to the housing body member. Furthermore, this housing body member is provided with means for producing a spiralor spin-flow internally of the housing body member. According to an important aspect of the invention, the discharge connecting piece or stud extends opposite to the direction of deflection of the twistor spiral-flow producing means in order to produce an aerodynamic cross-section reduction.

This aerodynamic cross-section reduction produces an effective outlet or discharge cross-section which, with respect to the actual cross-section of the discharge opening and the discharge stud or connecting piece is considerably reduced. Consequently, it is possible to maintain small the air quantity required for operation of the guide housing. This, in turn, favorably affects the energy requirement for conveying the air. By virtue of the foregoing measures, upon the occurrence of fiber accumulations or bunches and intermittent appearance of fibers, there is nonetheless still available the entire cross-section of the discharge stud or connecting piece. Consequently, even with continuous flow of fiber bunches or accumulations through the guide housing, there does not occur any clogging of the discharge stud or connecting piece. If required, the guide housing can be also used for the uniform blowing out of air charged with fibers over a very Wide, narrow discharge stud. This is of importance for the pneumatic cleaning of textile machines having large surfaces which are to be cleaned, since it is then possible not only to use clean air but also air charged with fibers for the blowing operation without clogging of the discharge cross-section.

Accordingly, the aspect of the invention contemplates providing an effective flow cross-sectional area of the discharge spout or connecting piece which is only a fraction of the actual cross-sectional area of such connecting piece, to thereby enable discharge of air and fiber accumulations even larger than the effective flow cross-sectional area.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be better understood, and objects other than those set forth above, will become apparent, when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view through a first example of use of the inventive guide housing as a cylindrical separator having an inlet spiral for the air charged with fibers and dust;

FIG. 2 is a plan view oi the separator construction shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a second embodiment of separator having a substantially conicalshaped configuration and an axial air inlet;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the separator structure depicted in FIG. 3; i

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view through the inventive guide housing equipped with a spiral-shaped housing body member and tangentially directed air discharge connection piece or stud;

FIG. 6 depicts a second form of use of the invention, showing in perspective view the guide housing with a spiral-shaped housing body member, a tangential inlet and tangential outlet for the air, wherein the discharge of the air from the narrow slot takes place uniformly over the entire width; and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view through the arrangement shown in FIG. 6.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Describing now the drawings, in the arrangement shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 10 generally designates a fiberand dust-separator which possesses a housing portion 12 of essentially cylindrical configuration. This housing portion 12 is provided at its one end face or side with an air infeed spiral 14 equipped with a connecting piece or stud 23 for the raw air charged with fibers and dust. Additionally, the housing portion 12 is provided at its jacket or casing with a tangentially exiting pure or clean air stud or connecting piece 16 for the cleaned air. At the other side or end face of the housing portion 12 there is provided a guide housing 24 having a tangentially directed stud or connecting piece 26 for the discharge of the separated fibers. The studs or connecting pieces 16 and 26 are both directed towards the same direction.

The direction of flow of the air is represented by the arrow 29 for the infeed spiral 14, by the arrow 27 for the clean air stud or connecting piece 16, and by the arrow for the stud or connecting piece 26.

The stud or connecting piece 23 for the infeed spiral 14, the clean air connecting piece 16, and the connecting piece 26 each enclose a right angle with respect to the lengthwise axis 24" of the housing portion 12. The connecting piece 26 of the guide housing 24 is arranged in such a way that if it is assumed that such is rotated about the axis 24" it will approximately come into coincidence with the stud or connecting piece 23. This is of particular importance as will become apparent more fully hereinafter. On the other hand, the clean air stud or connecting piece 16 will not come into coincidence with any of the studs or connecting pieces 23 or 25 due to the imaginary rotation previously described above.

Continuing it will be understood that within the housing portion 12 there is arranged a filter 20. This filter 20 is of substantial cylindrical configuration and its surface or jacket is arranged at a spacing from the inner wall of the housing portion 12, as shown. Furthermore, this cylindrical filter member 20 is fixedly retained in its desired position by the use of any suitable non-illustrated fixing means or equivalent structure. Moreover, it will be understood that this cylindrical filter member 20 merges into a radially extending shield or diaphragm 17 at its end neighboring the guide housing 24. This shield or diaphragm 17 limits the ring-shaped compartment between the filter member 20 and the housing portion 12 in the axial direction. An internal compartment or chamber 22 whgh 1S surrounded by the cylindrical filter member 20, on the one hand, communicates in air conducting fashion with the inlet or infeed spiral 14 and, on the other hand, similarly communicates in air conducting fashion via a discharge chamber, that is, the guide housing 24 with the discharge stud or connecting piece 26.

The lengthwise axis 24" of the cylindrical housing portion 12 simultaneously also approximately forms the axis of the guide housing 24. The axis of the infeed spiral 14 is situated at least approximately parallel to the axis 24". A detailed description of the spiral of the guide housing 24 will be undertaken hereinafter in conjunction with FIG. 5

The means for generating a twistor spin-flow consists of the infeed spiral 14. The ventilator or fan for conveying the raw air and the pure or clean air is designated by reference numeral 19, whereas the ventilator or fan for conveying the separated fibers by reference numeral 21.

The fiberand dust-separator de icted in FIGS. 3 and 4 embodies a substantially cone-shaped housing portion 12 possessing an air infeed stud or connecting piece 14 and a pure or clean air stud or connecting piece 16. The axes of the studs or connecting pieces 14 and 16' are approximately coaxially arranged with regard to the axis of the housing portion 12'. Moreover, a filter 20 arranged internally of the housing portion 12 is of substantially cone-shaped configuration. The axis of the cone-like filter 20' extends coaxially with respect to the axis of the housing portion 12'. The tip or apex of the filter 20 is formed by an air permeable hood or cover member 25'.

Guide members or devices 30' are arranged within the housing portion 12'. These guide members 30' impart a spin or twist to the inflowing air charged with fiber and dust; this spin or twist being in the clockwise direction when viewed in the direction of movement of the air. Moreover, such spin or twist of the air can be already imparted in the infeed stud or connecting piece 14.

The clean air stud 16 piercingly extends through the central region of a substantially spiral-shaped guide housing 24' and is directly connected with the clean air side of the filter 20. The guide housing 24 forms an extension of the housing portion 12' towards the bottom. The axis of the guide housing 24 extends approximately parallel to the axis of the housing portion 12. This guide housing 24' possesses a tangentially exiting stud or connecting piece 26, by means of which the separated fibers leave the separator. The stud or connecting piece 26 leaves the guide housing 24' in a direction opposite the spin or twist direction of the air in the housing portion 12. The direction of flow of the air in the stud or connecting piece 26' is represented by the arrow 25', whereas the spin or twist direction in the guide housing 24' is represented by the arrow 27.

During operation of the separator 10 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the ventilator or fan 19 sucks air, for instance out of the spinning room, through the inlet stud or connecting piece 23. This air is charged with contaminants such as fiber and dust and has imparted to it by means of the air infeed spiral 14 a spin or twist which is in the counterclockwise direction of FIG. 2. A translational movement is superimposed upon the spin or twisting movement in the direction of the axis 24" towards the stud or connecting piece 26. The fibers can periodically accumulate in large quantities, for instance if the filters of pneumatic cleaning installations at spinning machines are cleaned. The largest portion of the air in the separator 10 passes through the cylindrical filter member 20 and arrives via the stud or connecting piece 16 at a suitable non-illustrated air conditioning installation, for instance. The fibers entrained by the air are held back by the cylindrical filter member 20, further rotate along a spiral-shaped path mixed with a small quantity of transport air and arrive at the guide housing 24. The cylindrical filter member 20 has imparted to it a selfcleaning action due to the rotation of the fibers and the air.

Upon discharge from the guide housing 24, the fibers with the transporting or conveying air are abruptly deflected opposite to the twist or spin prevailing in the guide housing 24. Consequently, turbulence appears which considerably increases the flow resistance in the stud or connecting piece 26. The increase in resistance acts as a physical reduction in cross-section which, in turn, influences the quantity of air moving through the guide housing 24. However, since this cross-section reduction is not present in reality, such will conveniently hereinafter be referred to as an aerodynamic cross-section reduction. Thus, when fibers appear periodically or in bunches or accumulations, then there is nonetheless available for the further transport of such fibers the entire actual flow cross-section of the stud 26, so that no clogging of this stud or connecting piece can occur.

The air and the fibers appearing in the stud or connecting piece 26 are conveyed by the fan or ventilator 21 and transported into a suitable apparatus which finally removes the fibers from the air.

It has been surprisingly found that during transport of the air and fibers through a guide housing 24 designed according to the teachings of the invention, there is no deposition of fibers at the location of the abrupt deflection, namely at the nose member 37 (FIG. 2). This nose member is continuously maintained clean by the turbulence of the air current. On the other hand, with an air current which discharges in the direction of spin or twist, the stud or connecting piece 26 will become clogged within a short time at the region of the nose member due to deposition of fibers.

The mode of operation of the separator 10 depicted in 'FIGS. 3 and 4 is essentially similar to that previously described in connection with the separator construction 10 of FIGS. 1 and 2. The difference between these separators resides primarily in the manner of producing the spin or twist of the air flow which, in the case of the second embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4, is produced by the previously discussed means 30.

Moreover, it should be mentioned that insofar as the operation of the separators 10 and 10' and the guide housings 24 and 24' respectively, it is of no siguifiwnce whether the air is sucked through such separators or blown through.

FIG. illustrates a sectional view of the inventive guide housing, the section being taken at right angles or perpendicular to the axis 24" of the spiral-shaped guide housing 24 or 24'. It will be understood that each such guide housing incorporates the housing body member 31, the outer jacket or casing portion 33, the inner jacket or casing portion 35, the tongue or nose member 37, and the discharge stud or connecting piece 38. Reference numeral 39 designates the center of the spiral, in other words, the point of piercing of the axis 24" of the housing body member 31 through the section plane. In the case of a spiral which is not defined mathematically, the center 39 should be located at the center of gravity of the spiral. The nose member 37 is formed by the intersection at a point of the wall 40 of the stud 38 which is located closer to the center 39 of the spiral and the inner casing or jacket portion 35. This nose member 37, however, can possess an infinitely large radius.

The separation or partition location between the inner and outer jacket portions 35 and 33, respectively, should be defined by the point or location 36 situated diametrically opposite the nose member 37. The inner and the outer jacket portions 35 and 33, respectively, of the spiral can be portions of a logarithmic or Archimedes spiral. In such cases the center 39 coincides with the geometric center or pole of the spiral. However, the outer and inner jacket portions 33 and 35 can be also composed of circular arcs of different "radii or from a single circular arc or can approximate a polygon.

Generally, with the prior art, the air, which should leave a spiral through a stud or connecting piece, rotates within the spiral in counterclockwise direction in the arrangement depicted in FIG. 5. In so doing, the air flows at least along the outer jacket portion 33 and arrives finally in an undisturbed path in the stud or connecting piece 38. With this direction of rotation there is provided a 6 frontal flow against the nose member 37 which thus determines the amount of air which flows out through the stud or connecting piece 38.

However, according to the invention the air rotates in clockwise direction in the spiral depicted in FIG. 5. Consequently, the air flows at least along the inner jacket portion 35 and finally towards the nose member 37. Thereafter, there occurs an abrupt deflection of this air about this nose member 37, opposite to the twist or spin direction prevailing in the spiral.

In FIG. 6 there is depicted a further possibility for producing a spin or twist in a spiral and a further possibility of use of the inventive guide housing. Here there is shown a substantially spiral-shaped guide housing which is laterally limited or bounded by end plates or sheets 52. Reference numeral 56 designates the axis which extends in lengthwise direction of the guide housing 50 through the center of the spiral. Furthermore, this guide housing 50 possesses a tangentially exiting discharge stud or connecting piece 55, at the end of which there is provided a relatively long and relatively narrow discharge slit or slot 54. A narrow stud or connecting piece 58 merges at least approximately tangentially and preferably perpendicular to the axis 56 with the guide housing 50. However, this stud or connecting piece 58 can be also arranged to connect with the guide housing '50 at an inclination with respect to the lengthwise axis 156. As will be apparent by referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, the stud or connecting piece 58 is arranged centrally symmetric to the stud with respect to the lengthwise axis 56.

'It is of importance that the stud or connecting piece 58, viewed in a cross-section taken through the spiral, approximately comes to coincide with the discharge stud 55 if there is undertaken an assumed or imaginary rotation about the axis 56.

Upon conducting air through the guide housing 50 there appears in the interior of the guide housing a spin or twist flow owing to the tangential entry of the air by way of the stud or connecting piece 58 into the guide housing 50. Upon entry into the stud or connecting piece 55 the air is deflected opposite to the spin or twist prevailing in the guide housing 50. Consequently, there occurs the previously mentioned aerodynamic cross-section reduction, as such has already been described with the embodiments discussed in connection with FIGS. 1-4 inclusive. It has now surprisingly been found that the air escaping from the guide housing 50 is divided uniformly over the entire length of the slot or slit :54. Experiments have shown that a uniform blowing out of the air can be achieved for slit lengths up to two meters, and, specifically, with small, as well as large quantities of air. When using air charged with fibers, no clogging of the slit 54 occurred. It is important that the air be deflected within the spiral through an angle of at least It is not absolutely necessary to provide studs or connecting pieces 26, 38, and 55 for the discharge of the air from the guide housings 24, 24' and 50, respectively. The slit-like discharge opening can be also directly provided at the jacket of a cylindrical tube. It is of significance that the air in the guide housing possess a spin or twist which is either produced by an inlet spiral (FIG. 1), a special spin-producing means (FIG. 3), or by the tangential entry of the air (FIG. 6).

It should be apparent from the foregoing detailed description that the objects set forth at the outset to the specification have been successfully achieved, accordingly, What is claimed is:

1. A housing arrangement for the separation of impurities, such as dust or fibers, from air contaminated with such impurities, comprising a substantially circularshaped housing body member, said housing body member being provided with a tangential inlet connection means including an inlet opening means for impurity-charged air, a discharge opening means for air charged with impurities and a discharge connection means communieating with said discharge opening means, said discharge means being directed substantially tangentially with respect to said housing body member, said tangential inlet connection means generating a spin-flow internally of said housing body member, said housing body member being further provided with an internal compartment directly communicating with said inlet opening means, a substantially cylindrical filter member disposed within said housing body member at the region of said internal compartment, an outer compartment communicating with said internal compartment via said cylindrical filter member, said housing body member further being provided with a discharge chamber, said discharge chamber directly communicating with said internal compartment, said outer compartment being provided with a tangential discharge connection for predominantly clean air extending in the direction of spin of the air, and said discharge chamber being equipped with said discharge connection means extending opposite to the direction of spin-flow, said discharge connection means for air charged with impurities extending opposite to the direction of rotation of the spin-flow produced by said generating means and being positioned at said housing body member at a location to abruptly turn at least a portion of the air charged with impurities in a direction which is opposite to the direction of rotation of the spin-flow, to thereby produce aerodynamic fiow conditions at said discharge connection means resulting in an effective flow cross-sectional area of said discharge connection means which is only a fraction of the actual flow cross-sectional area of such discharge connection means and which throttles the flow of air charged with impurities through said discharge connection means, such that air charged with impurities of a size less than said throttled eflective flow cross-sectional area moves through said throttled effective flow cross-sectional area while air charged with accumulation of impurities of a size even larger than said throttled effective flow cross-sectional area moves through the larger size actual flow cross-sectional area.

2. A housing arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing body member possesses an approximately cylindrical cross-section.

3. A housing arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein the walls of said discharge connection means and said housing body member are impermeable to air.

4. A guide housing arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said spin-flow generating means is defined by a substantially spiral-shaped inlet compartment which merges with an end face of said housing body member.

5. A housing arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing body member possesses a lengthwise extending axis, said discharge connection means being positioned at said housing body member relative to said inlet connection means at a location such that imaginary rotation of said discharge connection means about said lengthwise axis in a direction towards said inlet connection means places said discharge connection means and inlet connection means in substantial coincidence.

6. A guide housing arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said discharge connection means merges with said housing body member to provide a nose member about which said impurity-charged air is abruptly turned, said aerodynamic flow conditions prevailing at the region of said nose member providing a self-cleaning action upon said nose member which effectively prevents the deposition of impurities thereat.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 474,490 5/ 1892 Walter 209--144 1,680,243 8/1928 Becker 459 2,201,301 5/1940 Richardson 55347 2,726,765 12/1955 Rakowsky 209-211 2,934,794 5/ 1960 Golden 209-144 3,176,501 4/1965 Briggs 55456 3,444,672 5/1969 Alsobrooks 55457 3,481,475 12/1969 Ruthoif 210-304 3,166,394 1/1965 Lockwood 55459 FOREIGN PATENTS 700,297 11/ 1953 Great Britain 55337 FRANK W. LUTTER, Primary Examiner B. NOZICK, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 55454, 457, 460 

